


A Haunting

by The_Lady_Crane



Series: The Odd Couple [8]
Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Haunted Houses, I'm Sorry, Implied Sexual Content, Implied freaky puffball-on-human sex, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Meddling Kids, Mystery, Secret Relationship, Slash, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9612974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_Crane/pseuds/The_Lady_Crane
Summary: Some of the kids at Smash Castle go looking for a rumored ghost, and end up finding more than they bargained for.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a silly little thing. This is part of a series I posted to FFNet, but I feel like it stands on its own pretty well.

“Then… when they least expected it…” Toon Link drew his sword and slashed through the air in one motion. “CRASH! It got ‘em!”

Lucas was the only one who screamed and dove for cover. Ness laughed at Lucas’ reaction, while Kirby popped another roasted marshmallow into his mouth, unfazed. TL, as Ness often called him, was a little put out at the response. Lucas was always scared of something, so having him freak out was hardly anything to brag about. “Come on, that was scary!” As the eldest of the group, he felt it was his responsibility to scare the living daylights out of the others.

“That wasn’t scary,” Ness said, his arms crossed. “It wasn’t even believable! You gotta make it sound real.”

“B- but ghosts aren’t real, right?” Lucas said, emerging from behind Kirby. “I mean, not murdering ones like that. There’s the ones that possess people, of course, and the ones that were haunting that graveyard… But there aren’t any here, are there?”

“I thought I saw some at Luigi’s Mansion, but that’s it,” Ness said. “I don’t think they can hurt you, though.”

“Yeah? Well, I bet this castle is haunted,” TL said. “It’s big, it’s old, and it’s bound to have a few ghosts. I bet you’d be too scared to go find them, though…”

“You’d bet right!” Lucas gulped, but Ness stood up, handing his remaining marshmallows to a delighted Kirby.

“I’ll go,” he said. “And I’ll bet you five tokens that there aren’t any ghosts here.”

“OK, then. Let’s go explore the castle!” TL leapt to his feet, excited to finally have something to do. Kirby followed, having finished all the marshmallows. Lucas sat down, though.

“I’ll just stay here and, uh, keep the fire going.”

A quick flick of Link’s boomerang stirred up a whirlwind of dust, which came to fall on the fire to extinguish it. Lucas groaned as Ness grabbed his hand and pulled him along, and the four of them left the picnic grounds.

The moon was high, casting eerie shadows in the courtyard as the four kids walked along the path. They saw adult Link and Mario sitting by the fountain, and Ness stopped for a minute to ask, “Hey guys, have you heard of anything unusual happening around here?”

The men stopped their discussion, seeming to think for a minute. “Not really,” Link said, but Mario stroked his moustache contemplatively.

“You know, there was-a something,” the plumber said. “I was-a walking past the library the other night, when I heard something-a strange. You kids might-a go take a look.”

“All right, thanks!” Ness ran to catch up with the others, and told them about Mario’s tip. “It’s the case of the mysterious library noise!” he said.

“It was probably just a mouse or… something…” Lucas said, apparently trying to convince himself. The others ignored him.

To the library they went, finding it surprisingly empty. It was a sizeable room with books on almost every subject, spanning the worlds from which the Smash combatants hailed. Here, anyone could go and read up on the other competitors’ culture – and perhaps gain some insight to the others’ fighting styles. It was unusual to find the place deserted, even at this hour.

“Did Mario say what kind of noise he heard?” Toon Link asked.

“Nah, I didn’t stop to ask,” Ness said. “Let’s just listen for a while.”

They did. They sat in the reading nook, on plush chairs made for lounging. Kirby fell asleep against Lucas, who became calmer as time wore on and nothing happened.

“I thought it was bedtime for you babies?”

They all started at the sudden interruption (except for Kirby, who only blinked as he was awoken). Dark Pit had walked in, and he stood with his hand on his hip.

“We’re waiting for a ghost to show up,” Ness said. “Mario said he heard something strange the other night. We’re here to investigate!”

“Ghosts?” the clone threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, man, you guys are stupid. Except…” Affecting an expression of thoughtfulness, put a finger to his chin. “Well, there was one thing… You guys know where the items are stored, right?”

“Yeah?” Toon Link stood up, intrigued.

“I probably shouldn’t say this… I mean, I don’t want you kids to go looking and end up getting hurt…”

“Cut the act and just tell us already!” Ness demanded.

“OK, so I was there the other night...”

“What were you doing in there?” Link asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Never you mind, brat,” Dark Pit smirked. “Anyway, I was in there the other night, when I heard something… odd. Like, a strange moaning sound. Groaning. Even something like chains rattling. Nobody ever goes in there, so I didn’t think I’d be followed. But when I looked around, I couldn’t find anyone. Maybe you kids could buzz off there for a while.”

“All right, come on, guys!” Ness stood and took off down the hall, followed by the others.

“You know he’s probably lying,” Link said as they gradually slowed down. They were coming to unfamiliar territory, and Ness wanted to be sure they found the right place. “I bet this is just a wild goose chase.”

“Even so, did you really want to sit in that library all night?”

“Huh… I guess not.”

As they passed the armory, they could hear people inside. Someone was sharpening a blade while talking with someone else. Like the library, the armory was hardly ever abandoned. The general storage room was beyond that, and past that was the item storage room. It was always empty, since the items appeared automatically on the stages during fights. Nobody had any need to come here, and the kids came to a halt outside the door.

“Are- are we allowed to go in?” Lucas asked, shaking.

“It’s not forbidden or anything,” Link said, opening the door. The hinges creaked from misuse. Link and Ness entered, followed by Kirby and Lucas.

This room was very large, and dark. Crates of items were stacked along the walls, labeled with pictures of their contents. In the center of the long room, there were display cases showing every item available. The lights glowing inside provided the only illumination, and the kids gawked up at them as they passed.

Meanwhile, Dark Pit and Pit were fluttering down the hallway. “They should be there by now,” Dark Pit said, laughing wickedly. “Oh, man, this is gonna be so good…”

“So why do you want to scare them, anyway?” Pit asked. “Isn’t that mean?”

“Hey, they’re the ones who wanna see a ghost! I’m just giving them what they asked for. And having a good laugh along the way!”

“Well, I do think this kind of thing can be fun…” Pit mused, dodging an astonished-looking Fox and almost crashing into the ceiling. “What are we gonna do?”

“We’ll sneak in behind them, make some noise, and then fly out at them. I bet they’ll lose it!”

As the two angels approached the storage area, they landed on the floor and crept along the remainder of the hallway. They found the door already open, and Dark Pit smirked. “Quietly…” he whispered, and they practically slid into the room.

They could see the kids at the far end, highlighted by the display cases. Slowly, carefully, Dark Pit gripped the door handle and pulled it. Then he suddenly slammed the door, and pushed Pit to the side behind some crates. He grinned to himself as he heard Lucas scream.

“Th- the door closed by itself!” the blonde almost fell over, gripping Kirby tightly.

“Who’s there?” Link called. His voice echoed around the room.

“I bet it’s Dark Pit,” Ness whispered. “He’s probably trying to scare us.”

“You… you really think so?” Lucas seemed ready to faint.

“You’re probably right,” Link said softly. “If he’s hiding here, let’s go find him.”

As the kids crept around the display cases, looking side to side, Dark Pit and Pit were sneaking towards them. “Start moaning,” Dark Pit whispered.

“Huh? How?”

“You know, just groan or something. I’ll back you up.”

“Ah!”

Dark Pit glanced back at Pit, his eyebrow raised. “That was a little too… not like a moan,” he said. “Way too breathy.”

“Huh? That… wasn’t me.”

“Must’ve been one of the twerps,” Dark Pit frowned. “Maybe they hear us. Be quiet for a minute.”

“Nnnh…”

“Yeah, more like that,” Dark Pit said, “but hold off for a second.”

“But that wasn’t me, Pittoo…”

“Don’t call me that!” the clone’s black wings bristled. “And what do you mean, that wasn’t you? It didn’t sound like one of them.”

“Nnnh… Nnnah…”

Pit and Dark Pit stared at each other. This time Dark Pit had been watching Pit, and the angel indeed hadn’t made a sound. The moaning couldn’t have been any of the kids, though; it sounded like an adult male.

Link and Ness were looking at each other, too, though their expressions were less surprised. “It’s him,” Ness said. “Has to be.”

“Aaahn…”

Lucas barely held in a shriek that wanted to escape when something metallic clashed against the stone floor. As the echo subsided, they heard a faint whisper. “He’s good…” Link murmured; but then there came another sound. This was a low, almost rumbling growl. The kids all froze. “Wait…” There was no way Dark Pit’s voice could sound that deep.

Dark Pit and Pit were also beginning to worry. Watching the kids through a gap in the boxes, they could see that none of them had made these sounds. “M- maybe we should go?” Pit said in a tone more hushed than before.

“No, I wanna find out what that was.”

Another echoing clang made the two angels jump. This time, the following whisper was loud enough to decipher: “ _Shizuka ni shite kudasai_ …”

“What was that?” Lucas whimpered, his voice almost rising in panic.

“Shh!” Link put a finger to his lips.

The deep voice from before returned. It chased the rafters, reverberating around the room. “You will submit to me…”

That did it. The scream finally escaped Lucas’s throat, and he ran for the door, still holding onto Kirby. Link followed, yelping like an injured puppy. Ness stood rooted to the spot as Pit and Dark Pit suddenly burst form behind a stack of crates nearby, taking flight as they were frightened by the deep rumbling voice and Lucas’ screech. They also flew through the doorway, retreating down the hall after the other kids.

As the boy turned around, he came face to face with a very disheveled Marth peeking over the crates at the back of the room. One naked shoulder was visible, and the prince’s circlet was almost falling out of his hair. Next to him glowed twin yellow orbs, and it took a moment for Ness to recognize Meta Knight.

“Eheh… Sorry!” Ness laughed suddenly, realizing what had happened. Blushing furiously, he turned on his heel and ran out of the room, closing the door behind him telekinetically.

“I – I suppose we should have checked first…” Marth said. They had warped into the room using Meta Knight’s dimensional cape. It was the only surefire way to prevent being seen coming in here.

“I wonder what they were doing in here,” Meta Knight mused. “It seems we frightened them.”

“Well, they won’t be coming back soon.” The prince reached over and removed the knight’s mask. As always, Meta Knight’s arm twitched as if he wanted to bring his cape up to hide his face. Marth smiled, and lay back on the pile of his clothes and cape. “I’m glad you decided to show your face to me,” he said. “I’ll show you something in return…”

Suddenly interested again, Meta Knight forgot about the scene with the children. He had more important things to attend to… like the naked prince in front of him.

XXXXXX

At breakfast, Pit was talking excitedly with Toon Link and Ness. Lucas was still shaken, though was coming around with reassurance from Ness. Dark Pit refused to talk to anyone, embarrassed by his own cowardice. Ness alone knew the truth, and he wasn’t about to tell. It was too funny to see Dark Pit glance warily down the hall every time he passed it.

Pit, on the other hand, was eager to tell everyone about the “ghost” in the item storage room. Most ignored him, though Luigi groaned when he heard the tale. Marth and Meta Knight were as quiet as usual, sitting at the corner of the last table with Roy and Lucina. Ike walked over with his breakfast tray, joining his fellow swordsmen.

“Did you hear about the ghost in the item storage room?” Roy asked. “Pit said they were there last night, and it was moaning and groaning… the whole nine yards, as they say.”

Ike smirked, glancing at Marth and Meta Knight, who were focusing on their food a little too intently. “So that’s where you two go,” he said under his breath. Marth kicked him in the shin.

“I think that’s ridiculous,” Lucina said.

“Maybe we should investigate,” Roy suggested, munching on some toast. “I heard Toon Link wants to go back to see if he can find out what it looks like.”

Marth and Meta Knight exchanged glances. They would have to find a new hideout.

“Nah, let’s just leave it alone,” Ike said. “If there is a ghost, maybe it just wants to be by itself. Why should we disturb it?” He glanced at Marth and Meta Knight again, and the masked warrior gave him a slight nod in gratitude.

The subject was changed, and breakfast was enjoyed with no further embarrassment for the two lovers. It would still be a while before they could look Ness in the eye, though.


End file.
